Marcus Lee persists, comes up big for SSU

He sat in the front row at Savannah State’s announcement of the hiring of football head coach Earnest Wilson in an effort to be the first to talk to the new coach.

Every day, Lee called Wilson in hopes of getting a chance to play for the Tigers.

“I kept calling him and calling him and I guess he got tired of me calling,” Lee said. “Eventually, he said come to camp and work hard and you can earn a spot on the team.”

The 6-foot-1, 215-pound linebacker is second string on SSU’s depth chart, but he made a play last Saturday that led to the Tigers’ first win.

Lee blocked a punt in the final five minutes, setting up Antonio Bostick’s 1-yard touchdown run to break a tie and give SSU a 27-20 victory over Fort Valley State.

Lee and the Tigers get a big test Saturday when they meet the 16th-ranked Miami Hurricanes in Miami.

“I try to maximize my time on every play, so I work hard and give 100 percent,” Lee said. “You know, the next play isn’t promised.”

Actually, the first play wasn’t promised. He came to Savannah State in 2012 after starring at North Atlanta High School but couldn’t get the attention of coach Steve Davenport and his staff.

The coaching change in June gave Lee a second chance to make a first impression.

“He came up to me and I told him come back later,” Wilson said. “He kept calling, but I was always busy. Eventually, I wanted to see what this walk-on was all about. People said watch the film, and when I watched the film I was like, whoa.”

Wilson saw a linebacker/safety with good speed and athleticism. Lee participated in football, wrestling, baseball and track and field at North Atlanta.

He earned All-Region 6-AAAAA honors after registering 97 tackles and 14 sacks as a senior.

Lee drew interest from Wofford and Georgia Southern but liked Savannah State after coming down to watch the Tigers’ 2012 spring game.

“There was something I loved about Savannah,” Lee said. “It’s a nice campus, nice town. I just wanted an opportunity to play football. Putting these pants on every day, I love it.”

Wilson loves Lee’s attitude about backing up and playing special teams. Lee made a tackle against Georgia Southern and had two stops against Troy.

“I think I played 20 snaps at Troy (at linebacker) and maybe 15 against Georgia Southern and there were a lot of special teams plays,” Lee said. “I have to admit I was tired after those games.”

School first

Lee, an accounting major, had a 3.5 grade-point average in his first year and made Savannah State’s Golden Key society while being in the top 15 percent of his class.

He’s a sophomore in school, but just a freshman as far as athletics eligibility.

“All he’s shown me is he has great ability and takes pride in what he does,” Wilson said. “He runs hard and plays with intelligence. He’s one of those kids who keeps coming on.”

Of course, that’s Lee. Persistent.

He saw Fort Valley State’s blockers weren’t positioned correctly in punt formation and told coaches on the sidelines he thought he could block the punt.

“All right, Lee, go get it,” he said SSU coaches told him.

He came right up the middle and got the ball cleanly. The only thing better would have been to scoop and score, but the ball rolled out of bounds at the Fort Valley 1.

“It felt good,” Lee said. “It was great to do anything to help the team out.”